In recent years, unemployment data, the economic recession and the break-down of the social model suggest that we are witnessing a paradigm shift in the labour market. The younger generations are severely affected with a total of 75 million under-25s unemployed worldwide, making this problem into one of mankind’s greatest challenges in this century.

And all this is happening within a context in which no-one knows how to solve the problem. There are numerous local initiatives trying to provide solutions to local problems; problems that often have different or starkly contrasting origins, interests and objectives. In addition, many local organisations have different interpretations about the “how” and “why” of businesses and jobs.

In this sense, we are missing a civil society initiative dedicated to studying youth employment, which will bring together the best local practices, reflect on failures and mistakes with a view to learning from them; initiatives that will ensure the “Youth Guarantee” programme through which no young person, anywhere, will be inactive for more than four months, a movement that will analyse policies put forward by the public administrations so that all the agents involved in the labour market will be able to have a better understanding of them.

With this in view, the Bilbao Youth Employment Forum – BYEF will be held in the BizkaiaAretoa of the UPV-EHU on 24 and 25 November.

The overall goal, based on a reflection – action approach, will be to generate shared knowledge and respond to the youth employment issue, based on open multilateral dialogue and evidence-based analysis.

The specific goals of the BYEF are:

•  Identify critical success factors and obstacles of the experiences that are submitted in order to learn what works and why and what does not work and why.

• Offer an open space for dialogue and participation where the main stakeholders can generate new knowledge and seek feasible solutions to youth employment.

• Promote awareness among civil society at an international level to encourage the UN to declare 2019- 2028 the “Youth Employment Decade”, and include youth employment as a priority on the United Nations Human Development Agenda and post 2015 goals.

The BYEF addresses social agents, the people in charge of youth and employment policies, representatives of youth organisations, universities, the educational world, enterprises and business organisations, trade unions, international, European, national, regional and local administrations, experts in the Youth Guarantee, public employment services, major international, European and national youth employment agencies, employment departments and international, European, national, regional and local youth institutions and civil society organisations.